SANTA ROSA, May 25 - The Redwood Empire Food Bank will test Sonoma County's understanding of hunger in our community when the North Bay's leading food relief agency marks National Hunger Awareness Day on June 5 in Old Courthouse Square in downtown Santa Rosa.

The program will include a Hunger Quiz to increase public awareness of the extent of hunger in our community.

The test can be found on the REFB web site, www.refb.org, and will be available until June 12. Beginning Wednesday, May 30, the quiz also will be available on The Press Democrat's web site, www.pressdemocrat.com.

People who take the quiz or stop by the REFB information booth will receive samples of Numbers Fudge, Upside Down Priority Cakes and Let Them Eat Crumbs Cake.

The pastries are free but donations will be accepted. The funds will be passed along to the U.S. government to remind policy makers that a strong federal nutrition program is needed to assist 94,000 hungry people in Sonoma County and millions more around the country. Visitors to the REFB booth also will be encouraged to sign petitions urging federal lawmakers to address the hunger issue.

"Our menu of pastry treats are named to drive home the point that many of our political leaders don't seem to appreciate the number of people who have a difficult time getting enough to eat both for themselves and their families," said REFB executive director David Goodman, referring to proposals to trim food stamp and government commodity food programs.

On a brighter note, Goodman announced that Tyson Foods is contributing 35,000 pounds of chicken to the Redwood Empire Food Bank which serves 50,000 people in Sonoma County every month and supports food relief programs in Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

The Tyson contribution is part of a 600,000 lb. donation of poultry products to food banks throughout California. It will be delivered in conjunction with the National Hunger Awareness Day program and will represent the single largest food donation in California history.

"The Tyson donation will sweeten the tables of neighbors who come to us regularly for staples, fruits and vegetables," said Goodman. "It is much appreciated."

The fifth annual National Hunger Awareness Day program will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Old Courthouse Square on June 5.

In addition to the Hunger Quiz and pastries, information will be available on all food bank programs including a summer lunch program that gets under way as school classes close throughout the county. The program, which provides free summer lunches to students who rely on school meals from September to June, will include 40 sites from Petaluma to Healdsburg and west to the Russian River area. Volunteers are still needed to help operate several of the sites for about two hours a day three and five days a week.

Copies of the Hunger Quiz will be available at the Old Courthouse Square event.

It is also available now online on the REFB web site, and the food bank is encouraging high school teachers to urge their students to take the test online before the summer break. Residents who are not able to stop by the June 5 program also are encouraged to take the test online.

A drawing of participants who answer all the questions correctly will select a winner who will be cited on the REFB's web page and will also receive a Redwood Empire Food Bank baseball cap. The school whose students produce the most 100 percent correct scores will receive recognition and be eligible for a gift from REFB.

National Hunger Awareness Day is sponsored by food banks across the country affiliated with America's Second Harvest, a national clearing house of food relief programs.

Goodman said the hope of the Redwood Empire Food Bank and other food banks across the country is that more people will understand how much hunger is a factor in the lives of many of their neighbors and why it is important to support food relieve programs.

"Millions of American families - including many here in Sonoma County and up the coast to Oregon - struggle to put nutritious food on the dinner table every night," he said. "They include seniors on fixed incomes, working families living on low-wage incomes, and youngsters whose parents often have to pay the rent with money they'd rather spend on food."

Information will be available at the REFB event on how residents can contribute to the REFB.

For more information on how you can volunteer at the food bank or in support of the summer lunch program, call Goodman at 523-7900.